The dice direct our attention to another unreleased classic: “Walking in the Street,” first recorded in the summer of 1974, reworked during the Born to Run sessions in May 1975… and then subsequently lost forever. (Bruce searched for the master tape when compiling the 1998 Tracks box set but was never able to locate it.)
Some would argue that “Walking in the Street” isn’t a song of its own but rather a very early version of what would become “Thunder Road.”
There is some merit to that argument: musically, the melody is a dead ringer for the outro of “Thunder Road,” and that outro was a late addition to that song. (Early versions circulate with a different outro or coda.)
And lyrically, a late verse sounds very similar to “Wings for Wheels,” which was definitely an early version of “Thunder Road:”
From “Walking in the Street..”
Oh baby, I can’t lay the stars at your feet,
Oh but I think we could take it all , just you and me
Oh come on and see there’s a lot of room for you baby in this front seat.
…to “Wings for Wheels…”
Maybe I can’t lay the stars at your feet,
But I got this old car and she’s pretty tough to beat
There’s plenty of room in my front seat
If you think you can make it, climb in.
to “Thunder Road.”
Well, I ain’t no hero, that’s understood.
All the redemption I can offer, girl, is beneath this dirty hood
With a chance to make it good some how… hey, what else can we do now?
But thematically, “Walking in the Street” (sometimes called “Lovers in the Cold”) is a very different song from “Thunder Road.” The latter is a classic expression of desperation, yearning, and escape. The former is a fatalistic tale of Billy and Cherry, who seem reconciled to their lot.
Billy carries a gun and walks Lexington Avenue, “casing the promised land.” A getaway driver “waits outside the store. He pulls away just as Billy runs out the door. Oh, and Billy won’t run any more, no no no…”
They sound more like the lovers in “Atlantic City” or “Meeting Across the River” than in “Thunder Road.” (And having written that, I now wonder whether the story in “Walking in the Street” migrated to “Meeting Across the River” when the melody left town for “Thunder Road.”)
The chorus pairs a soaring melody with gorgeous but grounded imagery:
Tonight we’re lovers in the cold, running past the graveyards in the snow
Walking in the street with nowhere to go.
…and even though there’s a hint of hope in the line “I think we could take it all, just you and me,” the song returns and ends on the chorus, and it’s clear that Billy and Cherry won’t ever be pulling out of there to win.
So give a listen to this never-released, never-performed classic, lost somewhere with Billy and Cherry, forever walking in the street with nowhere to go.
Walking in the Street
Recorded: August-September 1974
Never released
Never performed
Looking for your favorite Bruce song? Check our full index. New entries every week!
I have always loved Walking In the Street among the three major outtakes from Born to Run with Lonely Night In the Park and Linda Let Me Be the One as the two others. Mike Appel put his foot down with the other two songs as being subpar, although I think that Linda is a good love song despite not being in the same league as Sandy. Bruce admitted that Lonely Night was a weak song about being on the beach during a summer on the Shore, but Walking In the Street is a great song for its images of winter and a heist that is likely to end in tragedy. I know that Walking in the Street became a longshot for inclusion on BTR after Bruce recycled the melody/hook as the closing instrumental coda for Thunder Road, but I will always appreciate the imagery of NYC in the winter during the recession and inflation of early 1975 when bank robbery was the best option for New Jersey thugs without any income…unless they had the crazy idea of forming a rock and roll band instead.
Great insight as usual, Paul! I have to admit I’m most partial to Linda among the three outtakes you cited, but I love the poetic irony of Walking being forever in limbo. 🙂
As we know, there the two versions of Linda that circulated with an early outtake featuring Bruce’s voice sounding like Bob Dylan and a more polished version that was released on Tracks in 1998; the latter version sounded more Spectoresque with the drums/percussion, while the former featured Max hitting the rim instead of the snare drum until the final chorus. Also, the earlier version featured Clarence’s solo played on a soprano sax instead the usual tenor. I would still place Linda Let Me Be the One among Bruce’s best Top Five Love Songs along with Sandy, The Way, Book of Dreams, and Secret Garden.